Tanabata (七夕, meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on July 7 of the Gregorian calendar.
The Tanabata festival (Tanabata matsuri) was imported to Japan by the Empress Kōken in 755. It originated from "The Festival to Plead for Skills" (乞巧奠 Kikkōden), an alternative name for Qixi,which was celebrated in China and also was adopted in the Kyoto Imperial Palace from the Heian period.
The festival gained widespread popularity amongst the general public by the early Edo period, when it became mixed with various Obon
or Bon traditions (because Bon was held on 15th of the seventh month
then), and developed into the modern Tanabata festival. Popular customs
relating to the festival varied by region of the country, but generally, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and
boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper.
At this time, the custom was to use dew left on taro leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. Incidentally, Bon is now held on 15 August on the solar calendar, close to its original date on the lunar calendar, making Tanabata and Bon separate events.
The name Tanabata is remotely related to the Japanese reading of the
Chinese characters 七夕, which used to be read as "Shichiseki". It is
believed that a Shinto purification ceremony existed around the same time, in which a Shinto miko wove a special cloth on a loom called a Tanabata (棚機)
near waters and offered it to a god to pray for protection of rice
crops from rain or storm and for good harvest later in autumn. Gradually
this ceremony merged with Kikkōden to become Tanabata. The Chinese characters 七夕 and the Japanese reading Tanabata joined to mean the same festival, although originally they were two different things, an example of ateji.
Source : Wikipedia
The story of Tanabata
Orihime (織姫 : Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝 : Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川 : Milky Way, lit. "heavenly river"). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星 : Cow Herder Star) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime nolonger would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter's tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes on tanzaku (短冊), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on a bamboo branch, sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day.
Tanabata Song
Sasa no ha sara-sara
Nokiba ni yureru
Ohoshi-sama kira-kira
Kingin sunago
Goshiki no tanzaku
watashi ga kaita
Ohoshi-sama kirakira
sora kara miteiru
Translation :
The bamboo leaves rustle,
shaking away in the eaves.
The stars twinkle
on the gold and silver grains of sand.
The five-colour paper strips
I have already written.
The stars twinkle,
They watch us from heaven.
